Pride?

This weekend, three of my friends and I are attending the TGLBQ Pride march and party in Columbus, Ohio.

As I continue to mention, Columbus is a very diverse city and the event promises to be well attended.  True to form, for the past month or more I have spent a considerable amount of "noggin" time, trying to come up with where I wanted to fit it.

It's not easy.

The gay and lesbian communities have much to be proud of.  Both were instrumental in breaking down discrimination barriers  and more they faced.  Plus the drag queens can look back with pride at their huge role in the Stonewall riots in 1969. All of the history is great but the fact remains- we transgender woman and men are not understood and left out.

Are the "Bi's" left out too? Then again, who exactly are the "Bi's"? The only potential peeps in this category I have ever met are the fetish cross dressers who will only have sex with another man if he is dressed as a she? And, if I still considered myself a cross dresser-fetish or not, would I feel any sort of pride if I went to Pride?  I'm pretty sure I would from the simple fact for a whole day I could express my gender as I saw fit. Plus, as a matter of fact, Pride events are much more cost effective for those who can not afford an event such as "Provincetown".(Fantasia Fair-below)


And, how about those lesbians?  The three friends I'm going with are all lesbians and two are pretty much clueless when I complain of transgender discrimination.  I just know I feel comfortable with them and the lesbian venues we will be going too.  I have always found their company to be the most natural for me to fit into to.  If I had to guess though, I'm thinking the three are going to party first and then be proud!

Where does all of that leave me as a transgender woman in the crowd?  I feel guilty.  I want the world to know I am trans and proud-as I am but, if I can blend in with the lesbians and party-I want to be there too. The fun part about the day is I will be able to dress down appropriately for a hot, humid Ohio summer day and enjoy being transgender.

For one of the first times in my life, I don't have to fit into yet another set of molds...this time from the gay/lesbian community.

We Almost Had Mail!

I don't know what "glitch" I had here in the Crysti's Condo this afternoon, but it managed to chew up and completely destroy a couple of your comments.

As you all know how much I value your ideas and in fact I did reply to a couple and poof! they were gone!

Two came from Pat and were rather interesting in how totally I disagreed with her. On the one about the Wow! post - I was able to go back in and delete my comment since Pat's didn't post at all. It's only fair to not paraphrase her comments if I don't have them.



The others were comments about the DMV folks who wouldn't let Chase Culpepper present his external gender anyway he wanted. One wanted to throw the kid under the bus because the DMV folks were nasty anyway-anywhere, but another was an extremely insightful one.  She said, isn't the whole episode similar to the age old double standard of girls allowing to be "tom boys" and boys not being allowed to be "tom-girls." Can you imagine one of the "jolly" DMV clerks telling a grumpy woman she looked like hell and better go put on makeup for her picture?

It's a different story here in Ohio where the DMV's were "privatized" years ago.  When I went into renew my license the last time years ago, it was the day after my first visit to the hair salon.  The woman paused for a second and then shrugged and took a very androgynous picture of me for my license since I wasn't seeking a name or gender marker change anyway-the same as Chase.  The DMV simply gets a share of every license plate or ID they process.  So it's "show me the money!"

Finally, Mandy sent in a couple comments that did make it about my second mammogram and ultra sound tomorrow. She was kind enough to fill me in on the actual procedure.

Deep down I believe from the time we are born until the time we die, our lives are built on different new experiences.  My latest new experience will hopefully mean nothing more than a clean bill of health.

One way or another though, the total and complete irony of it will not be lost on me.

Cyrsti's Condo "What If"

I know "back in the day" I used to see quite a few transvestites all dolled up in their "Hooter's" gear and ready to serve.  I have to say, more than a few did a respectable job with their "uniform's".  These days I don't see as many and that could be I'm not looking as hard-don't know.  But I did find one-sort of:

Allow me to preface this "what if" by saying none of these comments on the picture are from me and as always - I don't know if the person in the picture is a cross dresser, or a genetic girl.

I would add these comments though:  "Honey if I did get the job, what if I had to wait on my old drinking buddies?"
And the best one of all:  "If I do this honey, you know I get to keep all my tips!" Then, I can save for a boob job and call them "Tips for Tits!" (Sorry, couldn't resist!)